VANCOUVER -- Relatives of convicted terrorist Inderjit Singh Reyat arrived late Thursday to take him home for the first time in more than 20 years after a judge ordered him released on bail a day earlier.

The Reyat clan told reporters gathered at the North Fraser pretrial jail that they were happy their patriarch -- who has been convicted in two separate bombings that killed a total of 331 people -- was finally going to be reunited with his loved ones.

Reyat has served out two sentences for manslaughter in the June 23, 1985, Air India bombing and same-day blast at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and is now facing a perjury charge next January that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

He is alleged to have lied 27 times while serving as a Crown witness at the trial of two other Air India suspects -- Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri -- both of whom were later acquitted.

About an hour before the Reyat family showed up at the Port Coquitlam prison, eldest son Didar, brother Awatar and other relatives were in downtown Vancouver signing papers in the B.C. Court of Appeal registry, guaranteeing his release.

The court is still refusing to release details on the conditions under which Reyat, 56, will remain in the community, but The Vancouver Sun has learned $500,000 in bail had to be secured as part of the arrangements.

A sheriff was called to the appeal court registry to keep reporters from interviewing Reyat’s relatives as they left the building. They were escorted in a private elevator so that the media would not be able to question them or take their photographs from the street outside.

Lawyers for media outlets are launching a court challenge to get the bail conditions released — something victims’ relatives and an array of policitians said they strongly support.

Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh said in an interview that the public has a right to know the court’s decision.

“I absolutely abhor the secrecy whether it is imposed by the court or otherwise in a such an important case,” Mr. Dosanjh said from Scotland, where he is vacationing.

“We are a democracy and we need to know when the most dangerous criminals are allowed out what conditions they are allowed out under.”

Jason Kenney, the federal secretary of state for Multiculturalism, said in a news release that “perjury strikes at the core of our legal system and its search for truth.”

“Today, my thoughts are with the families of Air India victims, who must now reconcile Mr. Reyat’s new-found liberty with the immensity of their own loss,” Mr. Kenney said.

Mr. Kenney also included in his statement a quote from the March 2005 verdict of Justice Ian Bruce Josephson, who acquitted the other suspects, Malik and Bagri.

Justice Ian Josephson previously characterized him as follows: “I find him to be an unmitigated liar under oath. Even the most sympathetic of listeners could only conclude, as do I, that his evidence was patently and pathetically fabricated in an attempt to minimize his involvement in his crime to an extreme degree, while refusing to reveal relevant information he clearly possesses.”

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal said Wednesday that special prosecutor Len Doust had agreed with the public release and that the judge in the case was canvassing other parties before hearing media submissions on what to do.

Mr. Oppal said the public “should know” that the secret bail conditions are “extremely strict.”

Officials in the B.C. ministry of the attorney general, as well as the RCMP, were caught off guard by the bail reversal announced early Wednesday by Appeal Court Justice Anne Rowles.

Mr. Rowles reversed Associate Supreme Court Justice Patrick Dohm’s decision in March denying the Air India participant bail on the grounds that to do so would undermine public confidence in the system.

Mr. Rowles’ reasons for reversing the earlier ruling were also kept secret.

Reyat was charged two years ago with perjury for allegedly lying 27 times during his September 2003 testimony at the trial of Malik and Bagri.

Reyat pleaded guilty in February 2003 to playing a role in the Air India bombing which killed 329. He had already been convicted of manslaughter in 1991 for building the Narita bomb that was destined for a second Air India flight when it exploded and killed two baggage handlers.

The former Duncan automotive electrician moved his family to England after being identified as a suspect in the bombings. He was arrested there in February 1988 and unsuccessfully fought his extradition.

His wife Satnam rents a house in Surrey, where she lives with her three adult daughters. Son Didar has been living with his wife in the Toronto area, but recently moved back in with his mom.

Reyat’s brother Awatar also lives in Surrey and several other relatives own houses there.

Satnam Reyat was convicted of welfare fraud in April 2000 for accepting $100,000 in under-the-table payments arranged by Malik.